Sous vide for kettle sour?

[Tony B]

I was thinking of trying to make a kettle sour using good belly and holding the temp in my kettle with a sous vide stick. Have any of you tried this? Any practical notes?

 

[Skeeter686]

I have not tried using a sous vide stick. I used a small, old electric heating pad, controlled with an Inkbird, and a couple towels wrapped around the kettle.

I did use the good belly capsules, though, and they worked quite well. I innoculated about two gallons of wort with two capsules and kept the temperature set at 96°F. I was at my target pH in about 12 hours, which was much quicker than I'd expected!

 

[crazyjake19]

I make all of my kettle sours with GoodBelly probiotic capsules and have never held a steady temperature. After the mash I do a 5 minute boil, chill to 95-100ºF, then pitch the GoodBelly from the capsules. I cover the kettle with plastic wrap and the lid and let it go. No temperature control, and it's done souring in 24-48 hours, no problems or off flavors. Then I proceed with my normal boil and so on.

I believe I calculated the pitch rate to be about 0.7 capsules per gallon of wort, so I use 5 capsules (opened and powder dumped in) for a 3.5 gallon batch. Works great.

I heard GoodBelly recently changed their drink formulas and they no longer contain lactobacillus plantarum, but a different strain. Their probiotic capsules are still LP299v and can be used for kettle souring.

 

[Skeeter686]

I believe I calculated the pitch rate to be about 0.7 capsules per gallon of wort, so I use 5 capsules (opened and powder dumped in) for a 3.5 gallon batch. Works great.

I had seen recommendations for 100B cells per 5 gallon batch, but maybe that was a bit high. I don't think it really impacts anything except maybe for how quickly you achieve the pH you're shooting for.

I was certainly surprised to have hit it so quickly, though!